By Intern Daniela Urbano

It has been already a month since I’ve been in quarantine. I started learning how to cope with having my classes online at home. My typical day as a college student is waking up and attending my 8 am class. I place a sticky note outside my door saying that “class is in session.” Once I’m done with class, I begin to do homework while I’m waiting for my next class to start. Most of the time, I’m doing homework all week long. The reason for this is that my professors gave us more work in order to make up for the class work and assignments that were supposed to be done in class.  

Not being able to go to campus is starting to affect my educational journey because I’m transferring in the fall to Texas A&M University – Kingsville, and I haven’t been able to contact with an advisor to help me with the next steps in transferring. The only way to communicate is through email and it takes a while to get a response from an advisor. Especially, since students are contacting advisors because it is almost the end of the semester.

In the first weeks of quarantine, I would only look at the negatives of being just at home and my classes moved to online. Now, I see the positives of being in quarantine for a month. First, I noticed that I’ve been saving money not using my truck because I would spend about $45 a week in just gas. Second, being stuck at home is allowing me to be able to study all day for my classes. Third, I’m able to focus more on my physical health by eating healthier and exercising five times out of the week. This helps me by reducing stress and getting a chance to take a break from doing homework all day.

I’ve noticed that taking online classes has been very convenient. I don’t have to leave the comfort of my own home. I’m able to focus more on my classes because I don’t have so many distractions. On campus, I would have my study spots around campus such as the tables that were under the stairs in the science building or at the Ascender computer lab. Most of the times, I would see my friends or my Ascender family. I would be talking with them instead of doing my homework.